The Warning Nobody Heard

I saw tears starting to form in Emma's eyes.

"You'd let me stay with you?"

"Sure, why wouldn't we?"

"But what those men did to me...no man would want a woman who's been...who's had four men... My husband would never have taken me back if he was still alive. He'd think I was dirty or that I didn't resist enough."

I smiled.

"Emma, I don't know what kind of man you think I am, but I never said anything except that you should help out. What I meant was to help Morning Star and me with what we do every day, nothing more. What can you do?"

Emma wiped her eyes.

"We moved to that farm after 2020 to raise goats for milk and to raise chickens for meat and eggs. Jim wanted to be self-sufficient because he said the economy was going to collapse because of the policies the government kept implementing.

Jim's job was to raise the crops to feed them and my job was to take care of the animals, but you don't have any animals to take care of. I planted a garden every year too, but you don't have a garden. I can sew, but I don't know where you'd find any material to make clothes or thread or buttons. I guess about all I could do to help is do the cooking and cleaning."

I shook my head.

"You'd feel like you were our maid, and I won't have that. Neither would Morning Star. You'd have to feel like you were an equal part of our group."

I had to pause then, because a thought had just occurred to me. It would present some risk, but if it worked, it would be worth that risk.

"Emma, how far away is your farm? Would some of your animals still be there?"

She nodded.

"Bill didn't want to walk very fast so it took three days to get here, but I could walk it in maybe two. The animals should still be there. Those men killed one of my goats and several chickens to eat, but the rest should still be there. The goats were in a pasture with a creek so they had enough to eat and drink, and the chickens ran free except at night."

"How about your garden? It's still pretty early in the year. Did you plant it yet?"

I think Emma was beginning to understand my idea because she smiled.

"Yes, but I still have plenty of seeds left over. Every year, I saved enough seeds to plant for two years, and I never planted all my seeds so I'd have some for the next year in case something happened."

The trip to Emma's farm only took a long day, but we were walking down hill most of the time. When we got there, Emma ran to the barn, and then came running back to us smiling.

"I still have six goats left -- five mama goats and old Rascal, the billy. The chickens are still there too, not as many as before but there are a dozen hens and three roosters."

While Morning Star and Emma went into the house, I looked around for anything else we could use, but there wasn't much. There was a small tractor in the barn, but the battery was dead and it was out of gas anyway. I didn't find any gas cans around except empty ones. The plow and other implements would be useless without the tractor.

There were some hand tools like hoes, shovels, and normal carpentry tools. I already had enough carpentry tools to build a house, so it wouldn't be worth carrying them back to our house. The hoes, shovels and the pick and mattock I found probably would be useful since I didn't have any. The two-man buck saw I found would make cutting firewood a lot easier if I could convince Morning Star to help with the other end.

The only real prize was several boxes of nails and screws of different sizes. I'd brought a lot of nails and screws up to my house when I started rebuilding it, but I'd used most of them and there wasn't any way to get more unless I went back to Knoxville. Even if my truck would have made the trip, and I wasn't sure it would even start, I wasn't ready to go back anyway, not after our visitors proved there were still people left and some of them were dangerous.

I was wondering how many trips it would take to get everything back home when I saw the little wagon sitting off to one side. It was a copy of an old-time horse-drawn farm wagon, but it was only about half the size. That wagon was how I could get what I wanted back to the house. It would probably take two of us to pull it, but at least we wouldn't have everything on our backs.

The wagon would also come in handy for the animals. The goats we could probably lead or drive, but the chickens would have to be caged and that meant we'd have to carry them somehow. I made a mental note to ask Emma if they'd had any cages.

Morning Star and Emma were busy stuffing a laundry basket with clothes, and another basket full of stuff was sitting on the table. I chuckled and asked how they were going to carry all that stuff back up the mountain.

Emma smiled.

"Didn't you see the little wagon in the barn?"

I nodded.

"Yes, I saw it. It'll hold quite a bit, but it'll be hard to pull."

Emma grinned.

"No, it won't. I got tired of carrying chicken feed from the truck to the barn and chicken doo-doo from the barn to the compost pile, so I had Jim build the wagon. He bought the wheels and axle things, but he made everything else. Then I trained two of my goats to pull it. I'll lead the two on the wagon, and the rest of the goats will follow them. What we're taking isn't that heavy anyway. It's just clothes, my seeds, all my sheets, blankets, and towels, and my sewing stuff."

I asked her about chicken cages then, and Emma nodded.

"When we got the first chickens, they came in two wood cages. They're up in the haymow of the barn. They'll hold all the chickens I have left."

I found the cages in the haymow, like Emma had said, and also found another prize -- several coils of rope in various sizes. I'd taken all the rope in the sporting goods store before leaving Knoxville, but it was all small stuff like you'd use for tent ropes. This rope was a lot bigger, some even an inch or so in diameter. I didn't know what I'd use it for, but I wasn't about to leave it behind. I still find it odd that things you never thought about before, like nails, screws, and rope, were now more valuable than their weight in gold.

Emma said it would be easier to catch the chickens once it got dark, so we decided to spend the night at the farm. There wasn't much left to eat there. Bill and his crew had eaten everything they could find. We ate the deer jerky Morning Star had put in her backpack and washed it down with water from the stream in the pasture.

Once it got mostly dark, Emma went to her chicken house and caught the chickens with a hook on a long pole. She'd hand each one out the door to me, and I'd stuff it into one of the wood cages. I counted fifteen when she said that was all that were left.

We were all dead tired by that time, but I was uneasy about all of us sleeping at the same time. Before, I'd not been worried because I'd only seen one person -- Morning Star -- in almost two years. Now, since the farm was pretty easy to get to, I didn't want to be surprised again. Morning Star said she'd stay awake until about midnight and then wake me so I could stand watch.

Thankfully, nothing happened that night. By daylight, we'd all had some more deer jerky and were loading the wagon. Once that was done, Emma went to get her goats. They followed her like puppies after their mother, and the two that were to pull the wagon stood like statues while she put the harness on them. By the time the sun was peeking over the trees, we were ready to start for home.

Emma took one last look and then said, "I used to love this place, but I can't stay here any longer. Let's go."

The trip back to our house went a lot smoother than I expected. The goats didn't seem to be having trouble pulling the wagon, though Emma helped them on the steeper slopes by pushing on the back. We had to spend one night in the open, and like at the farm, Morning Star took the first watch and I took the second. Emma stood guard over her goats most of the night I think, but we didn't see or hear anything like a bear, lion, or tiger. I figured any lions and tigers would be down in the valleys where the deer and any stray cattle and hogs would be. Any bears would probably stay away from the fire I built in the middle of the road.

We got back to the house a little before dark, and while Emma and I put the goats and chickens in my barn, Morning Star fixed what she could for us to eat.

Well, that was almost twenty years ago, though I'm not real sure about that. It's hard to keep track of the date when you don't have a cell phone or a radio to keep up with things like that. The three of us just live with the seasons because it's easier.

It took a lot of work, but I built a pole fence for the goats, and we now have about thirty. We have fresh milk every day, and once a month, we slaughter a young kid. Emma can do wonders with a goat carcass, so we eat pretty well.

The chickens did fine too. Emma let most of her hens sit on their eggs, and our flock became self-sustaining. We have all the eggs we can eat too.

It was pretty late that year to put in much of a garden, but after I spent a week digging up a plot, Emma planted green beans, beets, and spinach. She dried the green beans we didn't eat right away, and the beets went into a box of sand in a hole she had me dig. It was great to eat something through the winter that didn't come in a can. Every year after that, we've had more vegetables than we can eat, so a lot get dried for the winter or stored in a root cellar I built.

The only thing that's really changed much in the twenty years is we're now seven people instead of three. That all started when one night Morning Star told me she thought she was pregnant. I was both happy and worried. I was happy because I'd given up any hope of a son or a daughter, and worried for Morning Star. She just laughed and said between Emma's experience with helping her goats give birth and her own good health, everything would turn out fine.

It actually did work that way. Eight months later, little Ronald White Cloud Hayes was born. I think it was harder on me than on Morning Star. When Morning Star went into labor, Emma kept telling me things were going like they should, but until she said I had a son and he and Morning Star were just fine I was worried sick.

It was two months after Ronnie was born that we were sitting at the table and talking about what having a new baby meant. What Morning Star said set me back on my heels.

"Having Ronnie is like we're starting people all over again. I think that's a good thing. From what I saw coming from Chicago and from what we've seen here, there aren't many people left in the world. If there aren't any children, when we're gone what will be left?"

I said there were bound to be some people left, but they'd be in remote places just like we were.

"So there need to be younger people who can find them to find husbands and wives," she said. "If there are going to be young people, there are going to have to be babies born."

I chuckled.

"Well, that means you're the first around here. How many are you planning on having?"

Emma had been quiet through most of the conversation, but when she spoke, I understood why.

"Morning Star and I have been talking about this and I agree with her. Any woman who can have children should have at least some...including me."

I looked at Emma and then at Morning Star, and they were both smiling.

"You mean both of you want me to...with both of you?"

Morning Star reached across the table and touched my hand.

"Will, we know it isn't something you'd probably even think of doing in the past, but given what's happened, we both agree there isn't any other choice. We haven't seen anybody else except for those four who kidnapped Emma. It might be years before any other people find their way up here, and we can't afford to wait."

I tried to be logical.

"But won't that just cause you to be jealous of each other?"

Emma touched my other hand.

"Will, if anybody's going to be jealous, it's me, and I am. What you and Morning Star have is something I always wanted. I know she'll always be first in your mind, but at least I can share a little of what she has. I won't be jealous if I can do that."

Morning Star nodded.

"We already worked all this out, Will. Emma and I will alternate nights with you, but sometimes it will be just sleeping in the same bed."

She giggled then.

"I know you like sex, but we don't want to wear you out."

Well, I'll tell you, I had some reservations that night when Morning Star hugged Emma and then went to the other bedroom to sleep. Emma half-smiled and said, "I guess this is how we start. I'm probably not very good at this, but if you give me time, I'll try to get better."

Emma was a lot shy when we went to bed. She asked me to blow out the lantern before she undressed. When she got into bed, I could feel her shaking.

"Emma, if you're afraid, we won't do anything tonight."

I felt her hand on my bare chest.

"No, I'll be alright. It just been a while and the last time was..."

She cringed when I touched her breasts, but then sighed a little.

"Morning Star said she liked it when you did this, but I didn't understand why. Now, I do."

I don't think any man had ever really tried to arouse Emma, because she seemed to be really surprised by everything I did. A light brush of her nipples with my fingertips made her catch her breath, and when I closed my lips around one, she gasped and her hips rocked a little.

Cupping her hip and squeezing gently made Emma shiver, but then roll to her side and press her breasts into my chest. It seemed like she wanted to be kissed, so I kissed her. The effect of that kiss on Emma was amazing.

She kissed me back, not a really erotic kiss, but a kiss that told me she was giving herself up to what she was feeling. She balked a little when I slipped my tongue between her lips, but when I gently rolled her nipple in my fingers, she opened her mouth. As soon as our tongues touched, Emma gasped and I felt her mound pressing into my thigh.

From then on, I think Emma was just reacting to what her body told her to do. She wasn't at all like Morning Star. Morning Star knew exactly what she wanted and she knew how to get it. With Emma, it was more like I'd try something and see what happened.

She liked my hands on her inner thighs. As soon as I stroked up the right one, she draped it over my legs so I could reach both. When my fingers felt the hair on her lips, Emma caught her breath, and then opened her thighs a little wider.

When I slipped my finger between those hair-covered lips, Emma caught her breath, and then made a soft moan. I was a little surprised that she was already pretty slippery, but I didn't rush her. This first time, I wanted her to be completely ready and willing.

I lifted the breast nearest my mouth and sucked gently on her nipple while I slipped my finger slowly into her entrance. That got me another moan and another rocking of her hips. As my finger went deeper inside her, Emma started pushing into my hand a little. I'd moved that finger in and out a little when she suddenly got really wet and slippery inside. After slipping my finger back out and massaging her little button a few times, Emma was pushing her mound into my leg and starting to breathe faster.

I figured it was time, and pulled her up enough I could get my cock to her entrance. I penetrated her slowly for the first couple of strokes, and only went in as deep as the tighter spot just inside her lips. After those slow shallow strokes, Emma moaned and sort of pushed herself over my cock until the base of my cock spread her lips flat against her thighs.

After that, it was me trying to arouse Emma to an orgasm while trying to stave off my own. I always had to hold back with Morning Star too, but that was because she was a very active participant. Emma wasn't, but it was the way she kept sighing or holding her breath as I stroked in, and the way she started to pant. All that was telling me she was basically just letting her body do what it wanted and enjoying the results.

The only time Emma said anything was when I felt her start squeezing my cock with little contractions. It was just a murmured, "Oh God, I feel like I'm going to explode." Four strokes later, she did. Her hips began to rock into my cock at a very fast pace, fast enough I couldn't begin to keep up. Emma held her breath for a couple of seconds, and then cried out as the waves of the orgasm wracked her body.

I couldn't hold back any longer, and with one deep stroke and a groan for each, pumped three spurts into her clasping passage. I think there was a fourth spurt, but Emma was shaking so hard it was difficult to tell.

I kept slowly stroking my cock in and out of Emma's contracting passage until she stopped shaking, and then kissed her on the forehead. Emma raised up enough to kiss me again, and then snuggled close with my cock still inside her.

"Is it always like this", she whispered.

I stroked from her back to her hips.

"If I do my part, it usually is."

Emma buried her face between my neck and my shoulder.

"If it is, I want to do this a lot."

We did do it a lot, and two months later, after Emma had panted and writhed out another orgasm, she whispered she thought she was pregnant. About eight months later, Selena Anne Hayes entered the world. We were now a real family, not what a family was before Covid-26, but a family fit for the times we were living in. Over the next three years, Little Fawn White Cloud Hayes and Jimmy Alexander Hayes joined our family.

We still live like we started out to live with a couple differences. I'm the builder, and right now, I'm building on a bedroom for the boys and a bedroom for the girls. Selena is fifteen and Little Fawn is almost thirteen and both have become women. Morning Star and Emma say the boys and girls need a bedroom all their own.

It's a lot of work because I don't have any sawn lumber and there's really no good way to get any. Ronnie, Jimmy, and I are building both rooms as log cabins out of the trees we cut down, but they're young and strong, so it's going pretty fast. I've taught them both how to be carpenters, though I think Ronnie would rather hunt and fish.

Morning Star usually does any hunting we need to do. She brings down a few deer in the fall and then smokes the meat into jerky. The rest of the year, she hunts turkeys and rabbits so we don't deplete Emma's flock too much. Morning Star is also our school teacher and holds classes every day for the four kids. She's teaching them proper English, math, and about the history of our country, and also teaching them survival skills.

Emma is the real farmer of the family. She takes care of the goats, milks them twice a day, and takes care of the chickens and gathers their eggs. I'm going to have to build a real chicken coop for her once the other bedrooms are done. She has about forty hens and since we don't need more than a dozen eggs a day, she lets most of them hatch out their chicks. Each year, she gets about three dozen hens and three dozen roosters. She culls out the older hens and they make great roast chicken. Most of the roosters end up as roasters too. Emma also raises the garden that seems to get bigger every year. She's teaching the girls how to do what she does with the animals and garden.

Other than that first tiger, the lioness and cubs, and the grizzly I saw, we haven't seen any other strange wildlife. My guess is since the antelopes and zebras prefer open grassland, those big predators followed them down to the valleys. We still see the occasional black bear, and if I get a chance, I'll shoot one every fall. Bear meat is pretty good, and Morning Star renders the fat in to grease that doesn't go rancid.

The bear hides also make good coats for winter and that's a good thing. Most of our clothes wore out long ago, but Emma figured out how to use rabbit hides, deer hides and bear hides to make more. We probably look like the original pioneers now in our leather shirts, pants, and moccasins, but they're comfortable and wear well.